Writers warn of a "postliterate" shift as AI makes skipping reading easier

In short: Some writers argue that deep, sustained reading is becoming less common, and that generative AI tools may make it easier to rely on shortcuts like summaries.

What's going on

The phrase “postliterate era” is being used to describe a worry, not a proven diagnosis. The idea is that people still see lots of words every day, but may be doing less sustained reading, like finishing books or following a long argument from start to end.

A recent feature in The Atlantic by Rose Horowitch, titled “The Age of Reading Is Over,” says phones, social media, and generative AI are accelerating this shift. It cites National Endowment for the Arts survey data showing fewer than half of U.S. adults said they had read a book in 2022. It also cites an analysis of American Time Use Survey responses showing the share of people who read for pleasure on a given day fell from 28% in 2004 to 16% in 2023.

These numbers track different things, book reading versus daily leisure reading, so they should not be treated as the same measure. Still, taken together they point to a possible drop in reading as a regular habit.

AI is part of the conversation because generative AI can summarize books, explain confusing passages, and draft text (like a super fast helper that can paraphrase what it sees). That can help people get started. The concern is that if people use AI summaries instead of the original, they may miss evidence, context, and the chance to form their own views.

What to watch

So far, this is an argument about risk, not proof that AI caused a decline in reading. A useful test will be whether people use AI to support reading, like clarifying vocabulary, or to replace it, like relying on summaries without checking the source.

Source: NYTimes